One of the challenges of building robotic systems that are mobile, autonomous and/or otherwise able to operate with some level of cognizance regarding their environment is that costs can be significant. Producing such systems at a cost that can support sales to the consumer market has been an historic impediment to the deployment of robots for consumer use. While the market opportunity for imparting some level of intelligence or functional capability based around artificial intelligence to products is immense, the cost structure of these products, particularly commodity products, makes these additions prohibitive from a business standpoint.
A particular source of such expense is the use of dedicated hardware and firmware for such robotic systems, including control systems and autonomous components. Given the cost-competitive nature of commodity-based product markets, in particular those related to entertainment products, it can be unfeasible to produce and sell products for such robotic applications in a profitable manner.